PVTIME – Three solar manufacturers, Heliene, SEG Solar and Canadian Solar, have submitted a formal anti-circumvention application to the United States Department of Commerce. The filing targets solar cells produced in South Korea and destined for import to the US, with Hanwha and other domestic Korean cell producers identified as the primary respondents.
This application comes one month after a coalition led by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing and Trade filed a similar complaint against Ethiopian solar manufacturers Toyo Solar and Origin Solar Manufacturing. Together, these submissions demonstrate the US solar industry’s strengthened trade protection measures against overseas photovoltaic goods. Notably, Hanwha had previously joined the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing and Trade coalition in earlier anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings, but is now facing industry-led trade action.
Operating under the banner of America’s Energy Resilient Manufacturers, the three petitioners classify Hanwha as a leading exporter of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from South Korea to the US market. They allege that Korean producers are circumventing the long-standing US trade measures introduced in 2012 by utilising Chinese-origin silicon wafers for cell production, which impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on all Chinese crystalline silicon solar cells regardless of assembly status.
The America’s Energy Resilient Manufacturers submission, represented by legal practice Lighthill PC, confirms that Korean manufacturers produce crystalline silicon solar cells using Chinese components, with no domestic research and development input. National research and development into solar-grade polysilicon, ingot and wafer production has ceased in South Korea following the discontinuation of local manufacturing of these critical photovoltaic materials. Consequently, firms such as Hanwha New Energy are entirely reliant on imported Chinese ingots, wafers and core components to assemble solar cells domestically.
Although the application specifically names Hanwha, its subsidiary Hanwha Qcells, and HD Hyundai Energy Solutions, it requests a nationwide anti-circumvention investigation covering all South Korean PV cell producers. This case is an unprecedented development in recent US solar trade regulation. Hanwha Qcells, a major US market supplier with a significant history of local investment, had previously supported anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions, so its new status as a primary respondent is highly unusual.
The latest trade filing reinforces a hardened US market access policy framework. Unlike the manufacturing bases of Southeast Asian and African countries, which have been repeatedly scrutinised for trade circumvention, South Korea has avoided such regulatory oversight until now. The updated stance prioritises domestic US manufacturing for market entry eligibility. Hanwha Qcells has invested over USD 2.5 billion in a vertically integrated manufacturing facility in Georgia which has now started producing solar cells. The full commissioning of the facility is scheduled for the third quarter of this year, with an annual production capacity of 3.3GW for ingots, wafers, and cells, as well as 3.5GW for photovoltaic modules.
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